His raw, driving, highly rhythmicesmen as R.L. Burnside, a young neighbor of McDowell's who learned directly at the senior bluesman's feet. These recordings (McDowell's first after Lomax's 1959 field trip) were made by Dick Spottswood at McDowell's home in 1962. At the time Spottswood had no notion the recordings would ever be issued. They became part of the collection of the Library of Congress and remained unreleased until Britain's Heritage label brought them out on LP in the early '80s. Out-of-print for some time, and never before issued in the US, this album focuses on the blues songs McDowell recorded that day in 1962. Included among these 20 tracks are some of McDowell's best known songs: "Write Me a Few Lines," "Red Cross Store," "Shake 'Em on Down," "Highway 61" and others. Two years later McDowell electrified audiences at the Newport Folk Festival and, subsequently, around the world. One of his signature tunes, "You Got to Move," was covered by the Rolling Stones, bringing McDowell wide recognition and a significant royalty check. Here is a glimpse of Mississippi Fred McDowell before the world discovered him, playing some of the delta's most distinctive country blues in his Como, Mississippi living room for an audience of family and friends.

• This release in the Heroes of the Blues series is the only true cross-licensed best-of package for Mississippi Fred McDowell • It's a complete career retrospective, covering all periods of his career and various record labels • It has been digitally re-mastered • Original cover art by Bill Stout

A powerful set from the mayfair hotel in 1969 from one of the last original fathers of the Delta Blues. Raw recordings by one of the last great country bluesmen, acknowledged as a prime influence on such artists as the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Rait. A new addition to the acclaimed budget-priced Complete Blues Series in digipack format with a twelve page booklet with comprehensive sleeve notes.

One of the most talented musicians of his time, Fred McDowell performed to large crowds all over the United States and Europe for several decades. He also spent most of his life working at a service station in Como, Mississippi, where I first approached him. This was in 1967. Fred couldn't have been more excited about doing a recording session and insisted we hire Johnny Woods, his old friend and a local legend, to accompany him on harp. No one in the area had seen Johnny in about either years, but Fred had heard he was back in town. Three hours on a dirt road later, we pulled up to a dilapidated shack in a town called Senatobia and found Johnny Woods - who I later found to be a cordial, gentle man, forty-something, one hell of a harp player - passed out on the front porch. Crammed inside the two-room house were fifteen or twenty men boisterously enjoying their Sunday afternoon, drinking and shooting craps. "Hey, Shake 'Em, what you doing?" they greeted Fred, who is best known in the area for his performance of "Shake 'Em on Down." When Fred sat down with his guitar and a bottleneck, everyone joined in. A couple of songs later, Woods dragged himself in, still in a haze so thick you could see it in his eyes. He started rummaging through his pockets for his harmonica, ahd when Fred launched into "Shake 'Em on Down," Johnny's shrill harmonica joined the whang of the guitar to make a sound powerful enough to bring the walls down. We arranged for Woods to meet us at Fred's house the following evening. Woods never showed that night, so we spent the next few days trying to track him down. We finally found him at a barbeque, stopped behind a car sneaking a swig from a friend's bottle of corn. Wodds agreed to go right then to a nearby house to record.